Pipe-wrench.



Patented Sept. 30, I902.

- C. C. BUEGER.

HPE WRENCH.

Applienion filed Nov. 20, 1901.)

(lo Model.)

WITNESSES.-

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UNITED STATES CHARLES o. RUEGER,

PATENT ()FFICE.

OF BUTTE, MONTANA.

PIPE-WRENCH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 710,077, dated September 30, 1902. Application filed November 29 1901. Se ial N0- 83,96 7. (N0 model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES C. RUEGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Butte, county of Silverbow, State of Montana, have invented an Improvement in Pipe- Wrenches; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to improvements in pipe wrenches or tongs. Its object is to provide a tool of simple construction wherein lightness is combined with greatest strength, a tool that is automatically adjustable to varying sizes of pipe, and which will not slip on the pipe and which can be easily engaged and disengaged.

It consists of the parts and the constructions and combinations of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

Figure 1 is aside elevation of my wrenchin its simplest form. Fig. 2 is a top view showing the lateral flanges on the movable jaw. Fig. 3 is a view from beneath showing slot and solid portion of the fixed jaw and section of movable jaw. Fig. 4 is a modification'showing proper angles between points of tangency and lines between the pivot-center of the movable jaw and the center of the corresponding pipes.

A represents a lever having a longitudinal slot 2 at one end. In this slot the pivoted hook-jaw B is movable. This-hook-jaw consists of a V-shaped plate having the lateral flanges 1) formed along its gripping-surface. The slot does not extend into the end of the handle, as it is-desirable that the two portions or forks 3 of the handle should be united at their ends to give them stiffness and strength and to afford an extended bearing-surface upon a pipe. This curved handle end forms a fixed jawwhose surface is eccentric to the pivot 5 of the hook-jaw. The gripping-surface of this jaw is preferably formed with angular faces 4, which may be serrated or not, as desired, or, as in Fig. 1, a face may have a serrated portion Rand a plain portion 4, which fits the wrench admirably for a great variety of forms or work. These faces are so disposed generally in relation to the movement of the hook-jaw that they will be essentially tangential to pipes of the particular sizes which may rest upon them when said pipes are engaged by the hook-jaw; but it is important for the best results that these faces should be tangent to a pipe at such a point that the arc of the pipe inclosed between said tangential point and a line passing through the center of said pipe and the pivot center 5 would not exceed twenty degrees. It has been found by experience that if an arc of larger angle is included the wrench will slip upon the pipe, particularly after the teeth .have become worn. This angle is smaller in the larger sizes of pipe. The gripping-surface 6 on the outer leg of the hookjaw is an arc concentric with the pivot 5, as in Fig. 1, or instead of this face being curved it may be angular, as shown in Fig. 4; but in either case the face is tangential to an arc struck from the pivot 5. The leg of the hook adjacent to the lever has its surface 7 conforming to an arc of the largest pipe to be faces may be made with or without serrations or teeth.

My aim has been in theconstruction of this wrench to distribute the strain upon the pipe over as large a surface as possible to prevent crushing of the pipe.

The broad gripping-surfaces of the hookjaw furnished by reason of the lateral flanges b assist'in distributing the strain on the pipe.

The flanges I) make the grip-surfaces of the hook-jaw practically of the same width as the fixed jaw and at the same time servematerially to strengthen the jaw.

One end of a spring Sis secured to the hub of the movable jaw, and the other end is .slidable upon the inclined rear wall 9 of the slot 2-. This spring tends always to close the jaws, and so automatically engage the pipe when the trigger extension 10 on the rear of the hook-jaw is released. The slot thus serves as a housing for the spring and protects it from injury. A safety guard-plate 11 is also provided on the back of the, lever and covering a portion of the slot, whereby the spring is further protected from injuryby careless handling and also protects the operator againstpossible injury from breakage of the spring.

The open movement of the hook-jaw islimited by means of a pin or stop 12, which prevents the spring from being withdrawn taken by the wrench. These gripping-sun.

through the bottom of the slot and also prevents the jaw being opened so far as to refuse to spring forward when the trigger is released.

I am aware that wrenches having a springaetuated hooked jaw movable in relation to a fixed. jaw, which latter is eccentric to the pivot of the hook-jaw, have been used-e. as shown in Letters Patent granted to H. Getty January 13, 1863; but they do not, as far as I know, indicate the features that I have endeavored hereinbefore to set forth and emphasizei. 6., of a spring housed in a chamber in the handle, of a hook-jaw having indentations conforming to peripheries of different sizes of pipes, of a hook-jaw having such indentations on a portion of its grippingsnrface, and the outer portion of said jaw having straight or polygonal faces which are essentially perpendicular to a line passing through the center of an engaged pipe and the center of the hook-pivot, and which lastnamed line and the radius of the pipe which is perpendicular to the engaging face of the fixed jaw inclose an angle which is essentially less than twenty degrees.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A pipe-wrench consisting of a handle slotted at one end, a movable jaw pivoted in said slot, a fixed jaw on the handle in relation to said movable jaw, said jaws adapted to engage pipes of various sizes, the relation of the grip-surfaces of said jaws being such that the angle between a pipe-radius perpendicular to the engaged surface of the fixed jaw, and a line from the center of said pipe to the center of the pivot of said movable jaw is less than twenty degrees. 7

2. The combination in a wrench of a lever having a fixed jaw, the outer portion of said jaw being made polygonal, a hook-jaw pivoted on said lever and movable in relation to said fixed jaw, a portion of the gripping-surface of said hook-jaw, adjacent to the lever, indented to arcs corresponding to the peripheries of pipes to be taken by the wrench, and the outer portion of the grip-surface of said jaw consisting of a plurality of plane surfaces tangential to an arc struck from the pivot of said jaw.

3. A wrench consisting in the combination of a lever, a longitudinal slot in said lever, a hook-jaw pivoted and movable in said slot, a fixed jaw in relation to said movable jaw, said fixed jaw having polygonal faces which subtend an arc eccentric to the pivot of the movable jaw, said jaws so adapted to engage a pipe that the angle between a pipe-radius that is perpendicular to the engaged face of the fixed jaw, and a line from the center of the pipe to said pivot, is less than twenty degrees, a spring fixed to the hub of the movable jaw and movable in the slot in which said jaw operates, and a trigger upon said movable jaw.

4. In a wrench, the combination with a lever forked at one end and having the ends of the fork members formed as a polygonalfaced jaw or cam and with certain of the faces of the cam having serrations and certain other portions made plane-surfaced, and a hookjaw pivotally mounted between the forks in relation to the fixed jaw, the relation of the grip-surfaces of the jaws being such that the angle between a pipe-radius perpendicular to the engaged surface of the fixed jaw, and a line from the center of the pipe to the axis of the movable jaw is less than twenty degrees.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

CHARLES C. RUEGER. \Vitnesses:

JOSEPH H. HARPER, AZELLE E. HOBART. 

